feather

feather

1. One of the light, flat growths forming the plumage of birds, consisting of numerous slender, closely arranged parallel barbs forming a vane on either side of a horny, tapering, partly hollow shaft.

2. A feathery tuft or fringe of hair, as on the legs or tail of some dogs.

v.intr.

To grow feathers or become feathered.

feather

any of the flat light waterproof epidermal structures forming the plumage of birds, several types of which form the body covering of birds. The principal types of feather are remex (wing feather); rectrice (tail feather); CONTOUR FEATHER (covering the outside of the bird); DOWN (the soft covering to the body); filoplume (hairlike feathers bearing a few barbs at the apex, occurring between the contour feathers). Feathers consist of a central RACHIS that supports BARBS which, except in down feathers, are connected to form a lamella by means of BARBULES. Feathers are now also known to have occurred in some Theropod DINOSAURS (Coelurosaurs) which have recently been excavated in China, and even Tyrannosaurus may have possessed feathers at some stage in its life cycle.

feather

1. skin appendages of all birds. Comprise a central shaft with a flat vane on either side. The shaft consists of the calamus, embedded in the feather follicle, and the rachis which is outside the follicle. The calamus has an opening at each end, the superior and inferior umbilicus. The inferior umbilicus contains the dermal papilla which produces the pulp which continues up the interior of the calamus to end at and pass out through the superior umbilicus. Each feather has two parts, the mainfeather and a small afterfeather which is attached at the superior umbilicus. Barbs and barbules form the bulk of the vane.

Contour feathers are large feathers that give the bird its shape. Down feathers are very small feathers. Semiplume feathers are intermediate in size between contour and down. Filoplume feathers are hairlike and remain after other feathers are plucked. They have only one small tuft of barbs. Specialized additional feathers include auricular feathers, around the ear lobes, oil gland feathers, at the oil gland on the tail, bristle feathers on the eyelids and powder feathers in aquatic birds. Remiges are the large flight feathers of the wing and rectrices the very long contour feathers coming from the side of the tail. These are the longest feathers of all in the domestic fowl.

The feather coat consists of feather tracts (see below) or pterylae that are well defined and carry contour feathers and semiplumes. They are separated by unfeathered tracts called apteria. The distribution of special feathers of particular colors in particular pterylae is what gives the breeds their distinctive appearance. The feather coat is divided up into regions that include hackle, cape, cushion, saddle, wing bars, wing fronts and wing bows.

2. long hairs on the fetlocks of draft breeds of horses and in dogs, on the ventral body, caudal aspect of the legs, and ventral tail of spaniels and setters.

3. hair-streams that produce feather-like marks, in the haircoat of an animal.

feather clipping

clipping the flight feathers with tin shears will prevent flight for several months.

feather coat

the total feather covering of a bird. Called also ptilosis.

contour feather

the externally visible feathers which determine the bird's silhouette and the contours of the wings, body and tail.

feather cushion

the plumage from the pelvic tract of the hen, forming the back cover.

feather cysts

contain unerupted feathers and keratinous debris that may form large cutaneous lumps.

feather disease

an idiopathic disease of all varieties of cockatoos, lovebirds and budgerigars as young birds and characterized by a chronic, progressive, symmetrical loss of feathers, elongation of toenails and upper beak, which later becomes necrotic and sloughs off. Called also psittacine beak and feather syndrome.

filoplume feather

hairlike feathers, commonest on neck, head.

flight feather

the strong feathers on the wings and tail of birds used in flight. Called also remiges (plural), remex (singular).

feather follicle

a small tubular invagination of the skin with a fleshy dermal papilla at the bottom from which the feather grows. The papilla is inserted in the opening at the end of the quill.

feather mites

mites that live on and in feathers, often in enormous numbers but have little pathogenicity. Include the genera of Analges and Megninia of the family Analgesidae and the genus Dermoglyphus of the family Dermoglyphidae. Other miscellaneous genera are Syringophilus, Falculifer, Freyana, Pterolichus, Pteronyssus.

feather muscles

similar to erector pili muscles of mammals; attached to the sides of the follicle; capable of elevating or lowering entire groups of feathers.

feather picking

a vice thought to be due to insecurity and manifested by the bird pecking off its own feathers. If blood is drawn cannibalism may develop.

area of the skin of a bird in which feathers grow. They are well defined and separated by unfeathered areas called apteria.

Patient discussion about feather

Q. can you be allergic to goose feathers?? do you get an allergic reaction even through the pillow cover??? If not- I don't know what it is but something in my bed is giving me a rash...

A. i had a similar problem. i just couldn't sleep in my bed and every day i changed one thing to see what is the cause. then i found that one of the pillows causes it and probably from dust mites. you can easily be allergic to goose feathers that can pass through the pillow cover. all you have to do is replace it and see if something changed.

I have seen the softness and beauty of the summer clouds floating feathery overhead, enjoying, as it seemed, their height and privilege of motion, whilst yet they appeared not so much the drapery of this place and hour, as forelooking to some pavilions and gardens of festivity beyond.

The brook, of which the banks were clothed with dense masses of a gigantic species of maidenhair fern interspersed with feathery tufts of wild asparagus, sung merrily at our side, the soft air murmured through the leaves of the silver trees, doves cooed around, and bright-winged birds flashed like living gems from bough to bough.

She introduced him to Ralph, who could see only a tall figure in gaiters, rising from a fluttering circle of soft feathery bodies, upon whom the light fell in wavering discs, calling out now a bright spot of yellow, now one of greenish-black and scarlet.

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